5 Lent

Psalm 95

Psalm 95

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.2 Let us come before him with thanksgivingand extol him with music and song.

3 For the Lord is the great God,the great King above all gods.4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,and the mountain peaks belong to him.5 The sea is his, for he made it,and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come, let us bow down in worship,let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;7 for he is our Godand we are the people of his pasture,the flock under his care.

Today, if only you would hear his voice,8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,[a]as you did that day at Massah[b] in the wilderness,9 where your ancestors tested me;they tried me, though they had seen what I did.10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,and they have not known my ways.’11 So I declared on oath in my anger,‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Psalm 22

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me,so far from my cries of anguish?2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,by night, but I find no rest.[b]

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;you are the one Israel praises.[c]4 In you our ancestors put their trust;they trusted and you delivered them.5 To you they cried out and were saved;in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,scorned by everyone, despised by the people.7 All who see me mock me;they hurl insults, shaking their heads.8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say,“let the Lord rescue him.Let him deliver him,since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.10 From birth I was cast on you;from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,for trouble is nearand there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.13 Roaring lions that tear their preyopen their mouths wide against me.14 I am poured out like water,and all my bones are out of joint.My heart has turned to wax;it has melted within me.15 My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd,and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;you lay me in the dust of death.

19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me.You are my strength; come quickly to help me.20 Deliver me from the sword,my precious life from the power of the dogs.21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my people;in the assembly I will praise you.23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!24 For he has not despised or scornedthe suffering of the afflicted one;he has not hidden his face from himbut has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;before those who fear you[f] I will fulfill my vows.26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earthwill remember and turn to the Lord,and all the families of the nationswill bow down before him,28 for dominion belongs to the Lordand he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—those who cannot keep themselves alive.30 Posterity will serve him;future generations will be told about the Lord.31 They will proclaim his righteousness,declaring to a people yet unborn:He has done it!

Psalm 141

Psalm 141

A psalm of David.

1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;hear me when I call to you.2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a guard over my mouth,Lord;keep watch over the door of my lips.4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evilso that I take part in wicked deedsalong with those who are evildoers;do not let me eat their delicacies.

5 Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.My head will not refuse it,for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.

6 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.7 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”

8 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,from the snares they have laid for me.10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,while I pass by in safety.

Psalm 143

Psalm 143

A psalm of David.

1 Lord, hear my prayer,listen to my cry for mercy;in your faithfulness and righteousnesscome to my relief.2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,for no one living is righteous before you.3 The enemy pursues me,he crushes me to the ground;he makes me dwell in the darknesslike those long dead.4 So my spirit grows faint within me;my heart within me is dismayed.5 I remember the days of long ago;I meditate on all your worksand consider what your hands have done.6 I spread out my hands to you;I thirst for you like a parched land.[a]

7 Answer me quickly,Lord;my spirit fails.Do not hide your face from meor I will be like those who go down to the pit.8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,for I have put my trust in you.Show me the way I should go,for to you I entrust my life.9 Rescue me from my enemies,Lord,for I hide myself in you.10 Teach me to do your will,for you are my God;may your good Spiritlead me on level ground.

Exodus 9:13-35

The Plague of Hail

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me,14 or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.16 But I have raised you up[a] for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.17 You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go.18 Therefore, at this time tomorrow I will send the worst hailstorm that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded till now.19 Give an order now to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to a place of shelter, because the hail will fall on every person and animal that has not been brought in and is still out in the field, and they will die.’”

20 Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside.21 But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that hail will fall all over Egypt—on people and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt.”23 When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt;24 hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.25 Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields—both people and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree.26 The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were.

27 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said to them. “The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.28 Pray to the Lord, for we have had enough thunder and hail. I will let you go; you don’t have to stay any longer.”

29 Moses replied, “When I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord. The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.30 But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.”

31 (The flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley had headed and the flax was in bloom.32 The wheat and spelt, however, were not destroyed, because they ripen later.)

33 Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land.34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Present Weakness and Resurrection Life

4 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Mark 10:32-45

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles,34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”

The Request of James and John

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with,40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”